The Ultimate Guide to Credit Card & Loyalty Programs for the All Inclusive Vacationer

This feature was originally published on the Rewards Canada website in October of 2019 and has been updated for 2021! With travel starting to open up more for Canadians many people will be looking to get away this winter to some sunny destinations and the good news is you can use your credit card points and loyalty programs for All Inclusive Vacations!

As Canadians we know what it’s like to live with long, drawn out winters. We dread the short daylight hours and the biting wind. So how do we as a nation battle the season we look forward to before Christmas but are sick of by the first week of January? We travel. We travel to warmer sun drenched locales and for many of us that means an all inclusive vacation. Canadian winters and all inclusive vacations go hand in hand.

Save up to 30% for stays at Fairmont and Accor Hotels in Canada and the rest of the Americas

 
Fairmont Hotel's Take Your Time promotion has returned for the fall and winter. This has been their go to promotion for the past year when they weren't running the ever so popular Stay Close offer. Take Your Time provides up to a 30% discount for stays at Fairmont and Accor Hotels in North and Central America. 

September 22 Update: CIBC unveils a new look, your weekly Shoppers/Rexall bonuses and more!

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 70,000 bonus points and no annual fee in the first year! 

 

 
CIBC unveiled a new logo and new look today to all their branding that will start appearing at branches and in all their marketing as of tomorrow.. This includes changes to their credit card designs of which we have a sneak peek at one of the Aventura cards with its embossed globe graphics. (Source CIBC)

It's time for TD to update their TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card

 
Over the course of this year we have had several articles covering credit cards in Canada that we feel are due for an overhaul. It all started out with our first post way back in January - initially we wanted to cover all five cards in that post however we wrote so much about the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card we decided to split up the articles and now three quarters of the year later we finish off the series for this year. The fifth and final card we are going to look that we feel is in need of a revamp/update/overhaul is the TD® First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card.

September 21 Update: Fly Turkish Airlines out of Canada for as little as $719 and the Lenovo Amex Offer is available on all Amex cards

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

Turkish Airlines has a seat sale with some great fares for their flights out of Canada. You can fly Toronto to Amman for as little as $719, Montreal to Cairo for $749 and Vancouver to Dubai for $879. The sale ends on October 11 and is good for travel until March 31, 22. Click here to learn more.

The revamped American Express Gold Rewards Card is back on the market offering up to 60,000 welcome bonus points

Just a few short weeks ago the details of the revamped American Express Gold Rewards Card were revealed. For most, the card's makeover didn't excite them. The revamped card has really been met with mixed reviews as the changes came on the benefits side of things, there was no tweaking of earn rates to make that side better and to top it all off, there's a pretty big jump in the annual fee. What we didn't know at the time was what the new welcome bonus would be - could it make up for that jump in annual fee and lack of increased earn rates? Well the card is now back on the market and the welcome bonus offer has been revealed....

Save up to 30% and earn an extra Hotels .com Rewards Stamp when you book by Sep 23

A short term bonus offer from Hotels. com Rewards that sees an extra stamp being rewarded on bookings made over the next couple of days. The good news? The stay window is long, you can earn this extra stamp on stays until the end of April 2022.

Offer details:
Save up to 30% and earn 1 bonus Hotels. com Rewards Stamp when you use promo code RWD1921 on stays booked via Canada version of Hotels. com. Click here for more details and to book online . Book by Sep 23 for stays until Apr 30, 22

September 20 Update: Alaska Airlines reveals new top elite tier level, new Amex Offer with Lenovo & last day to join the Amex Gold Rewards Card waitlist

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

 

Alaska Airlines revealed the details of their new top elite tier in the Mileage Plan program last week. The new MVP Gold 100K will officially launch by the end of January 2022. Qualification will require earning 100,000 Mileage Plan miles or 140 segments earned on Alaska Airlines, oneworld and partner airlines. There is also requirement to have at least 24 of those flights on Alaska Airlines. Once achieved some of the benefits include 150% elite bonus miles, oneworld Emerald status, highest waitlist priority for upgrades, 2 one way international upgrade certificates for travel on American Airlines and more. Click here to learn more.

New welcome bonus offers for National Bank of Canada Mastercards - 15,000 bonus points + first year free

National Bank of Canada is back in the bonus points game as they brought back some limited time welcome bonus offers for their proprietary rewards Mastercards. All of their A la carte Rewards cards now see a 15,000 bonus point welcome bonus plus the annual fee on the primary card is refunded for the first year. For the better of the last two years these cards have seen cash back offers as their limited time bonuses instead of bonus points which made a lot of sense as no one was really travelling. Now that travel is slowly coming back we see the shift back to a bonus points offer instead of cash back.

TD Aeroplan cardholders can earn 10x Aeroplan points + save up to $100 on Air Canada & Air Canada Vacations purchases

 

If you are a TD Aeroplan cardholder and have been thinking of booking some Air Canada flights or vacation packages with Air Canada Vacations now is the time to do so! From today through to October 1 TD Aeroplan cardholders will earn up to 10x points plus you can save up to $100 using the special promo code.